


New Year’s, New Dress, New Us

by Writer_Rabbit



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Cheek Kisses, Dresses, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Shenanigans, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jealous Trip Tucker, Jealousy, Kissing, Love, Love Confessions, Nervousness, New Year's Fluff, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Trip Tucker, Protective Trip Tucker, Protectiveness, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Shyness, Suits, Surprise Kissing, Travis Mayweather & Hoshi Sato Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25743808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writer_Rabbit/pseuds/Writer_Rabbit
Summary: Hoshi has never been big on New Year’s, but this time around she has a reason to want to celebrate: her boyfriend Trip Tucker. Her boyfriend Trip Tucker who might have had a little too much to drink.But all’s well that ends well, right?
Relationships: Hoshi Sato/Charles "Trip" Tucker III, Travis Mayweather & Hoshi Sato
Kudos: 2





	New Year’s, New Dress, New Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by [this OTP prompt](https://tsutomi-goshiki.tumblr.com/post/156642998632/random-person-a-is-cute-person-b-excuse-me). Warning: I have next to no idea how alcohol works, so I apologise in advance for what is probably an inaccurate/inconsistent portrayal of drunkenness.

New Year’s had never been a big deal for Ensign Hoshi Sato, so she had never hesitated to volunteer for the “countdown shift”, as it was christened by the crew. While the lucky few off-duty got to party all night and kiss or hug at midnight, Hoshi had been monitoring comms and updating the UT. During previous New Year’s, when Crewman Lorant came to relieve her, Hoshi would wave her off since she had no real reason to stop working. Walk all the way to her quarters, freshen up, tug on formal clothes, drag herself to the mess hall… For what? The celebration of a holiday she hadn’t cared much for even as a child? Watching her friends and fellow Alpha Shift officers drunkenly make fools of themselves?

Okay, well, that last one wasn’t always so bad.

This year, however, she was actually looking forward to Lorant’s arrival. This year, Hoshi had a reason to enjoy New Year’s completely outside of alcohol’s influence. This year’s was the first New Year’s she had a date—Commander Trip Tucker.

Somebody tapped on her shoulder. “Ensign?”

Hoshi turned around and felt her face light up at the sight of Crewman Lorant. “Speak of the devil!” she said. “Well, think of the devil, anyway…”

Lorant smiled. “Thinking of me?” she said. “Guess that explains why you were spacing out there.”

With a sheepish chuckle, Hoshi stepped away from the console to give way to her subordinate. “Must be a surprise,” she said. “I’m sure by now you’ve looked forward to your duty of relieving me since I’ve made a habit of simply giving you the night off.”

“Perhaps,” said Lorant, “but no worries. Enjoy the party!”

Barely sparing her a nod of gratitude, Hoshi dashed into the turbolift. She was practically shaking as she descended and had nearly vibrated out of her skin by the time she was in her quarters. _Take some deep breaths before you fall apart before even getting to the party,_ she scolded herself as she changed into the dress she had gotten just for this party. She had traded several good novels for the outfit during their last shore leave, wanting to look good for Trip. For that reason—that inexplicable desire deep within her to please Trip—she spent ten minutes simply staring at herself in the mirror and fussing over whether she was presentable.

“Get ahold of yourself,” she muttered. “You look nice in general, and by now Trip’ll be so drunk he won’t see anything small that’s off about your appearance. C’mon now, or he won’t see you at all.”

With that, Hoshi headed towards the mess hall. Indeed, by the time the doors were whooshing open for her, the party was in full swing.

The lights were dimmed, but illuminated decorations were strung across the walls and tables. Some people had somehow even gotten their hands on light-up accessories. Still, no one seemed to pay the latecomer Hoshi any mind. That is, except for Travis.

She caught his eyes as he made his way over to her, squeezing past dancing groups and stationary conversationalists alike. Giggling into the palm of her hand, she took pity on him and met him halfway.

“The struggles of small people, eh?” she teased, bumping shoulders with him.

Travis huffed. “Speak for yourself,” he said. “I don’t relate to the struggles of being small at all.”

“Uh-huh.”

“At least I can’t relate to having to squeeze through air vents to—”

 _“Okay,”_ cut in Hoshi. “I get the point. You’re petty and in denial. No need to rub it in.”

Travis stuck his tongue out.

“Oh, and immature?”

“You know it.” He took a sip from the fancy-looking glass in his hands and pulled a face. “What _is_ this stuff?”

Hoshi peered into the glass and screwed up her face at the odd colour—and stench. “I have no idea,” she said, “but keep it away from me. Seriously, I do not need any drink-related incidents to happen tonight. I was just starting to get comfortable in this dress.”

At that, Travis seemed to finally notice that she wasn’t wearing her regular uniform. “Oh!” he said, eyes widening as he gave her a once-over. “Is that the dress you saw on—?”

“Yup,” she said with a nod.

“The one that cost, like, a dozen of your books?”

“Yup,” she sighed, then brightened. “Worth it though. Have you seen Trip?”

Travis smirked. “Yeah, he seems to not have any complaints about…whatever this is,” he said, shaking slightly the glass in his right hand.

Before Hoshi could ask anything else, Travis’s eyes latched back onto the dress. “You didn’t let me touch it when we were buying it,” he said, voice so soft he was almost whispering. “Can I feel it?”

Hoshi snorted. “You sound like the fabric’s cast a spell on you.”

He glared at her, and she waved a hand in the air. “Knock yourself out,” she said, “just don’t spill the drink when you do.”

Travis nodded, but his attention was back on the dress as he reached out a tentative left hand and touched the material. “Holy stars,” he gasped. “It’s so _soft_ . The real question is what is _this_ stuff?”

Gaining courage, he started picking at some parts, smoothing out others, and simply gripping others between his fingers. Hoshi had started to feel a little nervous before realising no one was looking at them.

Mollified by that realisation, she snickered at her friend and playfully flicked his head. “Gee, Travis,” she teased, “people would start to think you were getting a little handsy if it wasn’t so blatant that you’ve forgotten I exist in favour of the dress.”

Travis finally glanced back up at her, though he still clutched the dress in one hand. “Wh—? Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just, man, clothes have always fascinated me. Growing up on the _Horizon_ , I was acquainted with, like, three T-shirts, and then Starfleet threw regulation at me, and…”

Hoshi smiled and patted the hair on his head. “No stress, Travis,” she said. “I was just teasing. It’s not like anyone would look at us anyway.”

Travis grinned at her and opened his mouth, but no sound came out as he caught sight of something to the side and all colour drained out of his face. “Uh, someone was definitely looking at us.”

“What? Who?” Hoshi followed Travis’s gaze and easily locked onto the drawn brows and chiselled jaw of her eight-month boyfriend.

Travis muttered a curse as he let go of Hoshi’s dress, dropping it out of his grasp like it had caught fire. It may as well have been from the urgency in Trip’s march over.

“Whaddya think ya’re doing?” he growled as he came up to them, eyes zeroed in on Travis, who suddenly seemed very intent on being a small person after all.

“Um— Uh— Um—” Travis glanced at Hoshi for help, but all she offered was ducking her head and giggling into her palm. He gulped and choked out, “I wasn’t thinking. I mean, I wasn’t thinking anything, sir. I mean—”

Finally taking pity on her friend, Hoshi tugged on Trip’s sleeve to pull him towards her and out of Travis’s face and, when he was close enough, hugged his arm with both of hers. She squeezed, and he finally broke his staring down at Travis to look down at her.

“Calm down, Trip,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’m sure Travis doesn’t mean anything by this.”

Travis nodded eagerly. “Yeah!” he agreed, practically tripping over his words. “Hoshi’s not really my type, you know?”

Trip stiffened in Hoshi’s hold, and she internally groaned. “Trip—” she started, but he had already turned back to _Enterprise_ ’s helmsman with a glower.

“Are you insulting my girl, Travis?” he demanded.

Travis blanched.

“She’s not your _type_ ?” he echoed. “Are you sayin’ she’s _ugly_ , Travis? ’Cause I won’t have anybody insulting my girl. I’ll— I’ll _fight_ you, Travis. Ensign. I’ll fight you, Ensign. I’ll defend Hoshi’s honour with my _life_.”

Hoshi was torn between laughing and being too embarrassed to utter a single noise. When Trip tried to swing his free arm at Travis but missed in his inebriation, the balance tipped in favour of laughing.

Travis shot her a glare. “Not helping,” he hissed. Then he plastered an angelic—albeit shaky—smile onto his face and turned back to Trip. “That’s not what I meant at all, sir,” he said. “What I meant was I’m not, um, you know… _romantically_ interested in her. However, I do see that she’s cute!”

Trip scowled. “Excuse me?” he said. “Ex-freaking-cuse me? Cute? _Cute?_ The universe was in a good mood when it made this person. Lookit her!” He turned to Hoshi and squeezed her cheeks with his thumb and forefinger. “Lookit her face. Lookit— Look at her _everything_ !” Gesturing wildly at her, he cried, “You call this ‘cute’? I’m sure you wanna rephrase that ’cause this ‘cute’ person is, as a matter of fact, someone who shouldn’t physically be able to exist due to sheer beauty. She’s more than cute—she’s _perfect_.”

By the end of his rant, Hoshi was a bright red and could barely make eye contact with Trip, who was staring at her like a lovestruck fool. She glanced at Travis and noticed he was trembling in his dress shoes. Yup… This incident was not going to help Trip’s notoriety as a jealous boyfriend and possessive goof.

Surprisingly, Hoshi found that she didn’t quite mind that. In fact, she was rather enjoying having Trip’s attention and giving him all of hers. He was a lovestruck fool, but he was _her_ lovestruck fool, and heavens did she like the sound of that.

Hoshi smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Trip on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered against his skin.

Trip turned in order to capture her lips in a full-on kiss. He instantly shut his eyes, but before Hoshi’s let hers slip close, she winked at Travis and watched him take this opportunity to run off. Then, she closed her eyes and lost herself in Trip’s embrace.

Eventually, her toes started to hurt and she regretfully pulled away to lower herself back down. “You’re too tall,” she muttered.

Trip gave her a lopsided smile. “You like it,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes because yeah, yeah she did. She released Trip’s arm and smoothed down the crumples she’d created in his sleeve. “You look very dashing in this suit,” she murmured. “Of course, you’re always handsome, but tonight…” She looked up and smiled at him. “Tonight’s special.”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice gruff. “Yeah, it is.”

He curled a strand of her hair around his finger and played with it as his eyes roved over her. Though she enjoyed having him look at her, she squirmed under the prolonged attention, which drew his gaze back to her face.

“You _are_ perfect,” he reiterated, this time in a lower voice—this time for her alone instead of as a proclamation to anyone else in the world who doubted it. “I’m so lucky. Blessed. I’m favoured by the _gods_.”

“You’re _dramatic_ is what you are,” she snorted.

“Maybe,” he said, “but I’m also right. No way there’s no divine intersection… Or, um, _intervention_ , yeah… No way there’s no divine intervention if I’ve got you in my arms.”

Flushing, Hoshi placed her hands on his chest and chuckled. “Guess you like the dress then, huh?”

Trip grinned. “I’m torn between having you never take it off and, well…”

Hoshi snorted as he winked, but then he sobered up.

“It’s not just the dress though, Hosh,” he said. “I like you. I really, really—” He froze, and a shadow of seriousness passed over his face.

Hoshi swallowed. “Trip…?”

He took a deep breath. “I take it back,” he said. “It’s not just the dress, but I don’t just like you either. I’ve thought long and hard about it—”

“You paused for, like, two seconds—”

“—and I love you, Hoshi.”

This time, Hoshi froze. He had never said that before, not to her. _She_ had never said it before, not in a romantic sense. She swallowed again. “You… You do?” she said, her voice trembling along with the rest of her.

Trip nodded, his conviction clear in the very movement. “Yeah, darlin’,” he said. “I love you. _I love you._ And I love sayin’ it.” He paused. “You don’t have to repeat it yet, of course. I don’t like keepin’ secrets on a sober day and alcohol’s always got a way of loosening my tongue, so that’s why _I_ said it, but I understand if you’re not there yet—”

Hoshi grabbed Trip’s lapels and pulled him down into a searing kiss. After a minute, she let him go and stared into his dazed eyes. “I’m there,” she said.

“Oh,” he said.

“I love you.”

_“Oh.”_

Hoshi smiled. Yeah, that lovestruck fool was hers.

Wrapping her arms around him, she mused, _Maybe I_ will _keep the dress on forever. It seems to be good luck._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this! This is my first full-fledged one-shot in this fandom, as up until now I have only been posting drabbles. (Feel free to request one of those BTW… Shameless plug.) Anyway, please feel free to leave some feedback below or to just fanby with me about ENT / Troshi / the underappreciated friendship that is Travis & Hoshi. I am always open to hearing about ways I can improve in grammar, delivery, etc.! Love you all, thanks for reading, and stay safe. <3


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